Hicks signs with Augustana

For the first time in his athletic career, Ryan Hicks will be able to dial in on one sport.

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By Mike Landis

Star Courier - Kewanee, IL

By Mike Landis

Posted May. 7, 2014 at 8:33 PM

By Mike Landis
Posted May. 7, 2014 at 8:33 PM

KEWANEE

For the first time in his athletic career, Ryan Hicks will be able to dial in on one sport.

Hicks, a three-sport standout at Kewanee High School, signed a letter of intent Tuesday night to play football at Augustana College.

“Bouncing back and forth from sport to sport kind of took me out of the groove,” said Hicks. “It’s a hard process to get back into the next sport. Focusing on one is going to be awesome.”

In his senior year at KHS, he was named to the All-Three Rivers Conference South football first team at both linebacker and running back. He was second for the Boilers in tackles with 58 and third in rushing with 466 yards and four touchdowns.

Hicks started at linebacker for the Boilers as a sophomore, and helped the team to Class 3A playoff berths in two of his three seasons.

“It’s very special when anybody you coach gets to move on to the next level,” said Kewanee football coach Tyler Nichols, “but even more so with a kid like Ryan. He’s the epitome of a hard worker. He brings it every day in the classroom as well as on the field.”

Hicks plans to enter the pre- dentistry program at the Rock Island college, and was impressed with Augustana’s state-of-the-art science facilities.

“I took a couple of visits there and I really enjoyed it,” said Hicks. “All the coaches had a really good attitude toward their program. It really felt like I could fit in and benefit the team, and they could benefit me the most of all the colleges I was looking at.”

He figures to play outside linebacker at the collegiate level, and hopes to add some weight and maybe catch a growth spurt to help in that pursuit.

“They’re getting a hard worker who is very coachable,” said Nichols. “The kid would run through a wall if you asked him to. He just has really good instincts and a linebacker’s mentality.”